MacKenzie Scott gives $5M to Nevada dropout prevention nonprofit

Communities in Schools of Nevada received a $5 million donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the largest one-time gift in the organization’s history, to continue its goal of keeping at-risk youth in school.

The nonprofit was one of 40 local affiliates to receive the gift in the Communities in Schools network. Scott’s total gift to the organization — which offers wrap-around services through support staff, called site coordinators, in Title I schools — reached $133.5 million, according to the organization.

Elaine Wynn, CIS Nevada founding chairperson and current national board chair, said Scott’s team approached them about their desire to contribute late last year. The news was so shocking it brought her to tears, she said.

“This is not the kind of organization where you go to them and make grant requests,” Wynn said in an interview with the Review-Journal. “This is all coming from them. They are determining based on their vision and what they’re trying to accomplish in giving away their philanthropic dollars. They reach out to the various organizations and entities which they think fulfill their mission.”

CIS Nevada operates in 81 high-needs schools in Clark, Washoe, Humboldt and Elko counties.

Site coordinators work with district and school-level officials to personalize the school’s needs and the needs of a student. Coordinators will distribute food, provide academic support, college prep, connections to partnering nonprofits and find tools needed for remote learning, among other services, making them “the first responders of education,” Wynn said.

In the 2020-2021 academic year, the graduation rate for CIS case-managed high school seniors in the state was 92 percent, according to the organization. Seventy-nine percent of economically disadvantaged students graduated that year, according to the Nevada Department of Education.

Scott’s donation is unrestricted, meaning the nonprofit can use the funds how they see fit. This uncommon approach to high-net-worth philanthropy gives flexibility to the organization’s plans, CIS Nevada CEO and state director Tami Hance-Lehr said.

Some of the funds — which total about half of the organization’s annual operating revenue — will be used to sustain the organization and keep cash-on-hand in case of emergencies. But the goal is to apply the funds toward expanding into more schools, Hance-Lehr said.

“For them to say that it’s unrestricted and that they trust you,” Hance-Lehr said. “That word is really important. They said they trust us to make the best decisions for the money itself. They know that we’re going to do that because of the extensive research that they have done and they believe in the program. I mean, that just speaks volumes.”

While the significance of the gift isn’t lost on Wynn, she hopes it doesn’t detract from the countless other nonprofits also addressing education and the work that still could be done.

“We want to broaden the marketplace,” Wynn said. “It’s kind of like the theme of Las Vegas. They used to say in all the years I’ve been here, how much bigger can Las Vegas be? How many more hotels can be absorbed? We used to say, ‘just make the market bigger.’ It would be nice if we could make the market for giving bigger and also get the respect by ourselves.”

McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter.